Alfa Romeo – Redmond

16. August 2012 · Comments Off on Alfa Romeo – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

When you go to these car shows it’s pretty hard to get a nice picture.  Firstly there are hundreds of people there and they ALWAYS walk directly in front of you every time you try to take a shot.  Secondly, these shows are never held just before sunset or just after sunrise, so there is usually direct sunlight on the car.  So the cars are surrounded by people and the exposure is horrible (lots of blown out parts of the picture).

So here I was at the Redmond Exotics Car show and I found this bright red Alfa with nobody around it.  The bodywork color just popped against the green bushes and trees behind, so I jumped at a shot.  To try and get over the terrible lighting conditions, I took 5 bracketed pictures each one with a different exposure.  Then I HDR’d the images together in Photomatix to get the picture below.

People were starting to approach so I didn’t have much time, ideally I would have looked for another angle to showcase the car, but in reality I’m just pleased I got the shot.  I tilted the camera to give the image a little “interest” but I may have over done it haha, but what the hell, I really like the picture.

Usually I try to tell you what model the car is but there was nothing on the car to tell me and the owner wasn’t around (I sometimes ask).  But this time no info, so you are just going to have to enjoy the nameless red Alfa convertible.

Tonight I found the guys fighting over a very dangerous toy!  At least I think that’s what they were doing.

Marina – Carillon Point

15. August 2012 · Comments Off on Marina – Carillon Point · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

I would bet I could post a year’s worth of picture a day with just “night shots”.   They are starting to be my favorite images, because they are super easy to do (you just set up a tripod and shoot), and the results are always good.

They do say that the perfect time to shoot landscapes is the magic or “Golden” hour that is an hour around sunrise and sunset.  It’s true that you get great pictures at this time but in summer it requires you being up and about at 5:30 in the morning or out waiting for the sun to go down at 9pm!  And when you work for a living that quite frankly is a pain.

That said when the daylight saving goes and we get darker nights I will probably go back to nice sunsets, but I’m digging night shots in the interim.

Today’s image was taken at the Marina in Carillon Point in Kirkland.  This part of Washington is pretty affluent and there are a lot of boats.  So to cater for the demand we have a lot of nice marina’s and this is one of them.

I do think it’s funny though that they put a lock on the gate on the pier, but I guess some of the boats are pretty expensive so it’s a deterrent against board kids, vandals and wan-a-be photographers looking for the perfect picture.

I liked this image when I got home immediately.  The green lilies on the water, the red light in the entrance and the blue sky make a great picture (I think).  Add to that the fact that any lights at night look cool and you get something interesting to look at.

If I’d had a flashlight with me I would have light painted the Marina sign so that stood out more, but such is life I guess.

Today Master Chief and Carter decided to enjoy a game of Jacks!

Pergola – Bellevue

14. August 2012 · Comments Off on Pergola – Bellevue · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

Tonights image was taken in Bellevue’s Botanical Gardens and as you can probably tell it was a beautiful day, very sunny (hence the shadows) and as I’ve said before, the worse possible conditions for landscape photography.

This area is near the entrance to the gardens and is surrounded by numerous flower beds and lawns.  Of all the images I took out in the open (not shaded by trees) this was the only one I felt justified a posting.

At Christmas, this whole area is covered with fairy lights and is amazing to see.  The pergola is completely lit up and really beautiful, but impossible to photograph as there are hundreds of people walking around and they just get in the way.  I tried one year to photograph Abi and Lisa under the lit up pergola and it was a disaster!  This was the first time I’ve visited the gardens in summer and while it’s very pretty, it’s not as nice as the year end lights.

Ironically I think I missed the real opportunity for capturing the flower beds as most of the flowers now are starting to wilt.  Spring would have been much nicer but I’ll remember next year and go back earlier.

That said the manicured flower beds and hanging baskets are really nice and make me realize just how much I suck at gardening.

Today Master Chief introduced Carter to his new pet!

Grand Wailea Grounds – Maui

13. August 2012 · Comments Off on Grand Wailea Grounds – Maui · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

I was looking through my backlog of pictures tonight looking for something to post (when you get to work at 7:30 in the morning and don’t get home until 7:30 at night, trust me when I say you are too tired to go out with a camera), and I found this image from our family vacation to Maui.

I’m not sure how I missed this one while I was there and didn’t post it, but I clearly kept it so I could share it with you tonight.  This was another shot of the Grand Wailea Hotel’s grounds.  The sun was just going down and the lamps by all the paths had just been turned on.  It was clearly dinner time as there is nobody in the picture (I have no idea how I managed that).

I liked this path leading to the small pagoda and the sunset over the trees and the sea was kind-a pretty.  The hotel has a lot of grass grounds like this but we didn’t go to this side of the hotel very often because this was the “Adult’s Only” section.  At the end of the path is the 18 and over pool and a large lawn area with a load of beach loungers for those who luv to sun worship.  So with two kids 15 and under I didn’t go here very often.

All I’m gonna say here is that Slinky’s are dangerous!

Chevy Truck – Redmond

12. August 2012 · Comments Off on Chevy Truck – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

This weekend I went back to the Redmond Exotic’s car show with Regan (my nephew visiting from the UK).  They didn’t have a theme this week and in truth there weren’t that many cars there but we did find this really cool old Chevy Truck.  Now I have no idea what year and model this was, the owner wasn’t around, but I thought it looked great.

Add to that, my brother-in-law (Craig, Regan’s dad) is refurbishing an old Chevy Truck, so Craig, this one’s for you.

There’s a show I love to watch on TV (from the UK) called Wheeler Dealers where two guys (Mike and Ed) refurbish old cars and in season 8 they did a Chevy 3100, they did a great job and this truck reminded me of the show, so if you like cars (and trucks) check out Wheeler Dealers.

It was very very hot when I took this and the sun was pretty much over head.  Two things that (for me) don’t produce that great of a picture.  So the fact that this came out and looked ok was pretty lucky.  There are though a lot of hot spots in the picture where the sun blew out the color and detail, but I don’t think it ruins the image.

Carter got the chance to visit his first Sonic today.  He enjoyed a footlong quarter pounder coney hotdog, and a chocolate shake!

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